“Friends,” hand painted greeting card on Strathmore paper, 5″x6 7/8″

It’s been a busy couple of months! Between closing one branch of our business and moving the remaining inventory to the other one (4 hours away), selling a property in another part of the state (3 hours away), and preparing to move to another home (6 hours away),  I’m just glad my head is attached to my neck or I would have certainly lost it by now.

However, there have been a few life’s gems hidden in the past few weeks otherwise spent packing, loading, driving, unpacking and packing again. We were able to squeeze in a family reunion in the UP of Michigan, where my folks live and my brother and his family visit each year. During this time, Eeva, a family friend, very kindly offered to take the three horse crazy members of the family (my 13 year old daughter Clara, my 11 year old niece Jenna, and yours truly) to the barn where she keeps her beautiful and very sweet Frisian/Quarter Horse gelding, Story Boy.

The girls helped groom him and tack up, and we each had a turn in the saddle before giving him a well-deserved bath and letting him loose in the pasture, where he promptly flopped down and rolled clear over from one side to the next!

Unfortunately, I forgot to bring a camera on the trip, so the only pictures I have of the experience are on my new phone. If I ever figure out how to upload them, I will post them here.

I painted this little piece on a Strathmore blank greeting card as a thank-you to Eeva for sharing her wonderful horse with us that day.It was a bit of a challenge as the paper didn’t allow for my usual wet technique.

(I didn’t try to paint Story Boy, as I didn’t think I could do him justice without a decent reference photo or drawing; the two horses are fictional equine friends.)